1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to image display and, more particularly, to a method of directing a viewer's attention to an area of interest in an image in order to enhance the perceived image quality and thus the viewer's preference.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Image displays, which can be described as output devices for presenting visual information, have become indispensable composing elements of modern electronic devices. Image quality of a displayed image may be degraded, for example, due to a limited capacity of processing power or due to the use of a low-power backlight in some electronic devices, such as the portable or handheld devices having limited resources. Under such limitations, the image is usually displayed in a selective manner such that important visual information is displayed in normal quality while other visual information is displayed in lower quality. Unfortunately, the viewer's attention is usually focused randomly on the displayed image, resulting in an intermediate perceptual image quality.
As web browsing on image displays is becoming more prevalent in everyday life, the amount of advertisements on the web grows to attract more customers. Some forms of these online advertisements, such as pop-up ads, more often than not, annoy rather than attract the users and block a substantial area of the image display. Accordingly, most users close these advertisements or ignore them completely.
Conventional image displays do not direct the viewer's attention; therefore, there is a need for an automatic scheme for enhancing perceptual image quality or facilitating online advertising by directing the viewer's attention to an area of interest.